'RRI' ex-director on graft trial

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A former finance director of state radio station RRI went on trial at the Anticorruption Court on Monday, charged with illegally marking up the price of a transmitter system, causing the state to suffer losses of at least Rp 20 billion (about US$2 million).

Government prosecutor Suharto said Suratno, the former finance and administrative director of RRI, and an accomplice named Faharani, inflated the cost of the transmitter facilities, purchased between 2003 and 2004, to around Rp 45 billion.

"According to an official assessment, the project's value was only about Rp 25 billion," Suharto said.

He said the defendant signed three procurement contracts with Faharani, who acted as a broker, to supply transmitter facilities to Merauke, Makassar, Lampung, Bengkulu, Nias island, and Toli- toli in an endeavor to improve the broadcaster's capacity to cover the 2004 general elections.

"After signing the procurement contracts, the defendant delivered a letter to the radio station's treasurer, asking the latter to execute the contract." The defendant was also accused of receiving Rp 2 billion in kickbacks from Faharani, Suharto said.

The case file made by the interdepartmental anti-corruption team says the three procurement contracts were fictitious.

Another prosecutor Zet Todung Allo said the defendant had violated Law No. 20/2001 on corruption, a crime that carries a minimum four-year jail term and a maximum life sentence.

The court session presided over by Masruddin Chaniago was adjourned until Monday to hear the defendant's statement.

Faharani, who has been detained in the same case, is scheduled to go on trial next week.

RRI president Suryanta Saleh has undergone police interrogations several times over the case but has not been held as a suspect.